Not until the day after the game did the nation learn Cutler suffered a medial collateral ligament sprain in his left knee. Even with news that the quarterback did suffer an injury that was severe enough to keep him out of the game, people continue to question the way he supported (or failed to support) his team while on the bench. The overwhelming attention this subject received in the media can be traced back to the initial outpouring of opinions on Twitter. This may be one of the first cases in sports journalism where the reactions of fans and other players during the game helped to shape the reporters' stories. The media was forced to cover the tweets as if they were part of the game.
The growing influence Twitter has on sports journalism is a bit troubling. Former Michigan quarterback Tate Forcier actually announced he was transferring from the school through a long list of tweets. Instances like Forcier's, where the information on Twitter is actually relevant, complicates the issue of Twitter being a reliable source of information. In Tuesday's Conversation with Tom Verducci, this topic was touched on briefly. Verducci talked about the battle between getting a story first versus getting the facts right. In Cutler's case, people came to assumptions and immediately went to Twitter to offer their opinions on the matter. Because several professional football players tweeted negatively about Cutler, people assumed the Bears' quarterback to be giving up on his team. People fall into the habit of viewing athletes as reliable sources in matters of professional sports. This shouldn't happen when athletes fail to use correct grammar or spelling and even promote the adult video industry in tweets.
Instead of writers and columnists driving the conversation, the fans were allowed to set the agenda about what was important. This could signal an interesting trend, especially regarding the impact of sports media on society. If social media (which is sure to only become more popular) enables fans to decide what the story is, perhaps the public will also be able to break away from the social attitudes that athletic competition and the media reinforce. Instead of being forced to discuss subjects that the corporate media wants them to, fans could discuss what they want, shirking the status quo.
However, the Cutler situation shows this might not happen.
While the public using social media to set the agenda for journalists is certainly rare, a larger social issue comes into play when reviewing the case of Jay Cutler and the Twitter reaction. When looked at through the lens of conflict theory, sports have long provided reinforcement for society's ideas about masculinity and at times, promoted misogyny. The Cutler Twitter situation showed this.
In their criticism of Cutler, users on Twitter as well as professional commentators turned to misogynistic rhetoric to disparage the quarterback. Former Green Bay offensive lineman Greg Koch told a radio station that he "never thought that his tampon would fall out on national TV" and went on to call the injured Cutler "a little girl." Various people on Twitter and elsewhere suggested that Cutler needed to "man up" and wasn't "man enough" to play professional sports.
Athletes are often called upon to play through pain and injuries while putting themselves at risk for permanent damage. The rhetoric of sports often reinforces the attitude that being a man includes being tough. It also implies that men are significantly superior to women. Through the rhetoric, sports and football in particular tend to tell society that women are inferior.
In the Cutler situation, it showed that many sports fans had received and absorbed the message. Instead of sports commentators remarking about Cutler's manhood, the fans sent the message themselves. Cutler was not playing the second half and that somehow made him a woman. Fans thought he was less of man because sports culture has been telling them that for years.
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